Take Me To The Prom
by igirisexual
Summary: It's nearing the time of the year that all the students of W. Academy dress up and dance the night away at school prom. Alfred F. Jones dreams of asking long-time friend and love interest, Alice Kirkland. The only problems; she's blunt and doesn't feel the same, and Françoise Bonnefoy asked her first. There are more than a few complications. USUK/FrUK. Nyotalia for some characters.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This fic contains nyo! and fem! characters, so, for your convenience, I'm adding a list of names here at the start._

_Genderbent characters: Alice/Artie (England), Françoise (France), Julchen (Prussia), Isabella (Spain), Monika (Germany), Sakura (Japan), Chun-Yan (China), Hera (Greece)_

_Non-genderbent characters: Feliciano, Lovino, Alfred, Ivan, Matthew, Allistor (Scotland)_

* * *

"What's wrong with Artie?" Françoise's words were demanding as she stared down her friends in the school cafeteria. "He's adorable! I don't see why you guys don't like him!"

"He's grouchy and a hard-ass," scoffed Julchen, running a hand through her thin albino-white hair.

"Not to mention a bully to some," Isabella mused. "And I don't think he thinks too highly of our group. He only hangs out with that Asian girl and the jock."

As per usual, the trio collected their lunch trays from the cafeteria ladies, and headed to their table. It was second break, so they had one more period before home time. They were three-quarters through the school year now; the last year for Françoise's grade. That meant just one thing for the school's most popular trio of girls. Prom.

"You two aren't looking on his good side," the French girl protested as she sat down, fiddling with one of her curls. "He's really nice to the people he can stand, and when he gets embarrassed," Françoise cooed, cupping one cheek in her hand. "When he gets embarrassed, he gets so red and flustered, and he's just simply _magnifique__! _And his eyes are this wonderful shade of green, and his face is just so beautiful-"

"Whoa, get out of dreamland, Françoise." Teased Julchen, giving her friend a soft shove. "He's a dick."

"Not very nice to talk about classmates that way, Julchen," a new voice chimed in, coming from a boy as he sat down at the lunch table. His seat was beside the girl he had addressed.

"Hey, Pancakes, I'll say what I want about him." She smirked back, curling an arm around her boyfriend's shoulders. "'Cos he's a dick, and that's the truth."

"You know I'll tell Alfred and he'll get real mad at you," Matthew chuckled lightly, picking at his lunch. "You know he's head over heels for Artie."

Françoise let out a puff, glancing away and mumbling something to herself.

"You look bothered," laughed Isabella, through a mouthful of salad.

"Yeah, well," she mumbled in reply, before turning to Matthew. "Your brother's never gonna get with Artie, cos Artie's not gay, okay?!" she insisted, determined that Artie's affections would be only for her in the future. Maybe if Matthew told Alfred this, he would get discouraged, and leave Artie alone. Ah, but that was just wishful thinking on Françoise's part.

"And you know this how, Françoise? It's not nice to assume things about people," Matthew chuckled, amused. He and Alfred had been friends with Artie since childhood, so he figured that he knew a lot more about the Briton than Françoise did.

"Call it intuition." Françoise pouted, having not even touched her food. "You know what? I'm gonna prove it! I'm gonna ask him to prom." She stated bravely, bobbing her head.

"Since when were you so thick in the head?" Julchen sneered, laughing openly. "He's totally not the prom type. I bet he's planning to just stay home and read or something, what a nerd."

"He isn't a nerd, either, Julchen," she scolded, crossing her arms. "And he's going to come with me to prom. Just you wait."

* * *

"And then she's like, 'Alfred's never going to get with Artie, because Artie's not gay!'"

Artie burst into soft laughter at Matthew's re-telling of today's lunch break – he even did the accents.

"On top of thinking you're a boy, she sounds like she's crazy for you, Artie," Matthew finished, smiling a little.

"Ah, I see. Françoise is.. uh, a little arrogant for my tastes, even if she is beautiful." At the moment, she was at he and Alfred's house, visiting after school as she did every few days. She and the Jones brothers were very close, almost inseparably so.

"I can't believe you still stay with that bloody lot when you could be sitting with us," she scoffed, leaning back on the couch a little more. Tomboy or not, she refused to sit with Françoise and her group, despite the offers that had been made. She would much rather sit with her few close friends, the Jones brothers, and Sakura. Well, it was just Alfred and Sakura now, since Matthew had jumped ship after Julchen asked him out.

"Love it or hate it, Julchen's got a way with words." He shrugged.

There was a cry of 'Alice!' from the doorway downstairs, and Artie just groaned.

"I have a nickname, so use it, dolt!" She called through the house. As if she had just summoned him, Alfred appeared at the stairway, dressed in football gear and smiling like an idiot.

"But you're my Alice in Wonderland!" he smirked, dumping his bag and striding forwards toward the couch. Matthew just laughed to himself.

"Welcome home, Alfred."

"You'll never let that go, will you? That's one of the reasons I go by 'Artie' now," she grumbled. The nickname had come from when the three of them were only small, from when Alice would read the novel of _Alice in Wonderland _to the brothers, doing the voices and everything. She had always been a touch more mature than the boys, and she had learned to read at quite a young age. Alfred and Matthew had been entranced in the story, Alfred more so than his brother. At some point, he managed to confuse the Alice in the story for the Alice in real life, and kept warning her about falling down the rabbit hole.

"Nope, and you'll always be my Alice," grinned Alfred, reaching a hand down to ruffle Artie's pixie-cut blonde hair.

"Ugh, you stink," she wheezed, batting his hand away.

Alfred groaned, and just threw his arms around her in protest. "I did just get back from footy practice, give me a break." He whined, pouting.

"Go and take a shower, or I'll never talk to you again." Artie threatened, raising a thick brow. Zipping his lips, Alfred let go of her and dashed off to do what she had instructed.

"You sure know how to get him to do something," laughed Matthew, entertained by their shenanigans.

"He's not that hard to get through to once you understand how he talks." Artie mused, smiling slightly. "Knowing his language doesn't make him any less annoying, though."

In Matthew's recount of today's lunch break with the girls, he had kept quiet about Françoise wanting to ask Artie to prom, feeling that it was something Françoise would kill him for if he told. It was probably better if Artie didn't know in advance anyway, he decided.

A few minutes of peaceful chatter passed, and Alfred came out of the bathroom in a fresh set of clothes. Sighing contently, he wandered back over to the couch and pretty much collapsed onto it, face pressed into a cushion.

"You forgot to flatten down your hair, dimwit," Artie scolded, glancing down and stifling a snicker at Alfred's freshly-blow-dried hair. Seeing as Alfred just grunted tiredly, she shrugged and patted it down gently. "What a disaster, Alfred can't even smooth his own hair anymore."

"He's getting old," Matthew joked, patting his brother's shoulder. "He just can't do things like he used to anymore."

"Hey, you guys," Alfred bleated, rolling over so that he was looking up. "I'm not _that_ old, don't be so mean." He puffed, to which Artie just laughed softly.

"Is that a grey hair?" she pondered, smirking.

"No, it's a blond one," quickly replied Alfred, too weary to go on with the joke. "I'm pretty beat from football practice, and I kinda got pummeled, so don't be mean to me today." He whined. "My everything hurts."

Artie just sighed and rose to her feet. "I'll make you some tea, you big fool." She mumbled. "You'd better not ever get injured too badly. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not saying it because I'm worried, I'm saying it because I don't want to have to help you hobble around if you break your leg or something." She muttered, sour as she moved off to the kitchen.

"Can you make it a coffee instead?" Alfred called, rolling over so that he was laying on his brother and using him as a pillow. "And sure, I know you love me deep down, Alice!" Her laughter could be heard from the kitchen downstairs.

While Artie was out of the room, Alfred rolled off of Matthew, and pouted. "Hey, bro, d'ya think, if I asked her, Artie'd go out with me? .. Or at least to prom or something?.. Since it's coming up, I mean." He asked quietly. He only ever called her Alice in person, as it was a nickname used to playfully tease her.

"Don't ask me, Alfie," Matthew sighed. "I have no idea how women work. Probably less of an idea than you, even though I have a girlfriend." He laughed softly, flicking an errant curl from in front of his eyes. Gently, he reached out a hand and patted down a bit of Alfred's hair that was still sticking up. "Just do what you think is right."

He felt quite worried now. Françoise and Alfred were both had dear Artie in their sights, and it would end up being a matter of who asked first. The one who had been too late would be hurt, and either way, it kicked Matthew in the shins. Brilliant.

"It's not that easy, Mattie," he whined, turning as he heard Artie re-enter the room, toting a tray with some refreshments.

"What's not that easy, do tell?" Artie scoffed, placing the tray on the room's coffee table, and taking a seat back on the couch. She made sure to sit to the side of the brothers, instead of accidentally on part of one of them.

"There's this one move in football, where you-"

"I've heard enough," she interjected, picking up the cup of tea she'd poured for herself and taking a sip. "You Americans and your 'football', and your damned 'soccer'," she mumbled under her breath. Well, they don't get much more British than Artie Hugo Kirkland.

Alfred scooted over a touch, glancing into each of the cups.

"Uh, which one's mine? I can't tell.." he asked quietly, looking over to Artie for a moment.

"This one, it's orange tea that I brought over and hid in your pantry last week." She mused, pointing to one of the cups.

"Not a coffee?"

"Do I look like a maid to you?"

For a mere few seconds, Alfred gave himself the liberty of imagining Artie in a cute maid's dress, but scolded himself for thinking of it. "Uh, sorry, no," he laughed, shrugging.

"Matthew, yours is a coffee with maple syrup, just as you like it." Artie smirked, handing over the appropriate cup. He took it and nodded in thanks. Alfred looked wounded.

"So you make him a coffee, but not me?" he grumbled, although he wasn't truly angry.

"He's not a loud and ostentatious bastard most of the time." With this, she lifted one hand and poked Alfred's nose accusingly with her index finger. "Drink up, mister Yankee."

"You're so mean," he puffed, sticking out his tongue, conceding, and going to pick up his tea cup.

He almost dropped it when Artie changed the subject all of a sudden.

"So, I've been thinking about prom," she started, causing both of the boys to tense up (for different reasons, of course.) "Maybe I'll take Sakura, as a friend." She chuckled, amused at the thought. Sakura was a polite and quiet girl, and she was damned adorable on top of that.

Alfred put his tea cup back down, wondering if Artie would force him to drink it in the end, even though he didn't fancy the taste of tea. "Nuh uh," he smirked, feeling his confidence rising. "Sakura's got a girlfriend, remember?"

"What balls, since when?" Artie asked, in a state of disbelief. "And if she does, why would she tell you and not me?"

"Uh, because I'm cooler than you," he winked. "You know Hera, right? Moved over here from somewhere in Europe?"

"The girl with the cats, right?" Matthew chimed in, as he shared a class with the girl.

"Yeah, the one always falling asleep in class. They're a thing now, Alice." Alfred beamed, increasingly cheery.

"Well, I'm all out of plans," she yawned, finishing her cuppa and leaning back on the couch. "Maybe I'll stay home and re-read _The Philosopher's Stone_."

"You can't do that-" the brothers both chimed in at the same time, causing some state of suspiciousness in Artie.

"Uh, I mean, prom is a once in a life-time thing, Alice, and you've gotta seize the opportunity!" Alfred insisted, nodding. That was a quick save, good for him. He was curious as to why Matthew had thought the same as him, but he would leave finding out that answer for later.

Artie sighed and rolled onto her side on the couch, so that she was facing Alfred. "Prom is dumb anyway." She pouted, glancing away. "It's just an excuse for all the pretty girls to show off just how beautiful they are in their expensive dresses and hired limos." She muttered, looking as if she was about to become ill.

"No, no, it's way more than that." Alfred insisted, reaching over and ruffling Artie's hair in an attempt to lighten her mood. "It's just a night to have fun and dance with someone you care about. It's not about anyone else other than you and the person you take with you," he carried on, smiling a little. He frowned as he noted the morose expression that his friend wore, though.

"I should probably go home now," she murmured, changing the subject. "Allistor will tell me off for being late if I stay any longer. Enjoy your tea." She pouted, stood, and made her way down the stairs.

"Fuck," Alfred whispered after she left, biting his lip. "Mattie, did I do something wrong?.. Shit.." he mumbled.

"Just don't be too hard on yourself, bro." Matthew sighed, shrugging a little. "Seems to be a bit of a sensitive subject, so try and dodge it when you can?.. I don't know, sorry."

"I've still got to ask her, y'know?.."

"She's coming over again tomorrow after school, so you could ask her then?"

"I guess I'll have to." Alfred gulped. "I don't know if I'll get another chance."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: This fic contains nyo! and fem! characters, so, for your convenience, I'm adding a list of names here at the start._

_Genderbent characters: Alice/Artie (England), Françoise (France), Julchen (Prussia), Isabella (Spain), Monika (Germany), Sakura (Japan), Chun-Yan (China), Hera (Greece)_

_Non-genderbent characters: Feliciano, Lovino, Alfred, Ivan, Matthew, Allistor (Scotland)_

* * *

Artie's alarm was what woke her up. Yawning, she sat up, and tried to quell her crazy bedhair. Not like trying to flatten down her hair ever worked; it was just spiky and messy as a default. She went through her morning ritual of rousing, eating breakfast, showering and dressing in uniform, and then finishing any last-minute homework. She was a smart girl in most subjects, being a generally good all-rounder. She didn't stand out in any particular subjects, excepting just one. This particular class that she suffered in was Home Ec, as much as she loved to cook, and as much as she liked the food she made. No one else seemed to.

She said goodbye to her brothers and father, and started walking to school. As she traversed the street, bag slung over her shoulder, she happened to cross paths with Françoise, of all people. Artie felt something similar to dread and fear.

"Oh, _bonjour_, Artie!" Françoise hummed, clapping her hands together in delight at the sight of her crush.

"Morning," she replied bluntly, dipping her head.

"How're you? Sleep well?" the older girl asked warmly, walking alongside Artie now.

"We don't usually talk, and you're treating me like an old friend," Artie murmured, digging her hands into her pockets and looking away in embarrassment. "I slept okay."

"You're not going to ask how I slept?" Françoise puffed, faking like she was hurt.

"Fine, how did you sleep, Françoise dear?" joked Artie, putting on a cutesy tone just for the last two words.

"I didn't sleep much," she shrugged. Her footsteps were light as she walked; she seemed joyous enough today.

"Good for you," Artie mused.

"_Non_, now you're supposed to ask why! You're not very co-operative, are you?" Françoise giggled, the biggest of grins on her face.

"This isn't some kind of play or something," the Briton protested, slightly irked by the other girl's attempts to get her to follow a script.

"Artie~," she pouted her bottom lip. "Come on,"

Groaning, Artie decided it would be easier to concede and finish this conversation already. She was a little unsettled around Françoise, wondering if she would end up being made fun of by the popular girls. At the moment, she just wanted to find Alfred, Matthew, and Sakura out by the front gate where the group met up in the mornings; she felt a lot more comfortable around her own party.

"Fine, why didn't you sleep much, Françoise?"

"I was thinking about prom too much!.. Speaking of which,"

Ah, Artie had expected this one.

"Have you got a date yet?"

She shook her head, which seemed to rile Françoise up even more.

"Then what do you think of coming with me?"

Brilliant. Just brilliant. She bit her tongue so that she didn't accidentally groan in irritation. It wasn't like the walls in Alfred's house were soundproof; she had heard him talking to Matthew. Great.

"Uh.. Can I have some time to think it over?.." she stammered, knowing that she'd have to talk to Alfred about this. "Since prom is such a big thing, you know? I mean, I'm not saying yes, but I'm not saying no." Artie mused. She was honestly surprised that anyone would ask her at all, let alone two people desiring to.

"Oh, of course. Here, I'll give you my number so that you can call me if you decide at home." Françoise winked, drawing a piece of paper with her phone number printed on it. _How much has she planned this?_ thought Artie, taking the paper and giving it a glance over. "I'll, uh, I'll call when I make up my mind."

"Can't wait for the call," grinned the French girl, before moving merrily off to catch up to Julchen, who was further down the street.

Great, she'd just been asked to prom by one of the most popular girls in the school. Artie would feel bad if she refused, seeing how worked up Françoise and her group seemed to get around these types of things, and how they picked out their dates after a long time of thinking and considering. It seemed to be like that for them, as everyone was apparently in adoration of the three beautiful girls. However, Artie would also feel awful if she let down Alfred, especially since she'd known about his little affections for quite some time. She hung her head as she walked, not looking forward to a day that would probably prove to be awkward as hell.

The Jones brothers and Sakura were waiting at the gate, as usual, this time joined by Sakura's sister, Chun-Yan.

"You owe me enough lunch money as it is, Jones, I'm not giving you any today –aru!" She was scolding, poking at Alfred's chest with one finger.

"But I'll be hungry and die," Alfred whined, starting to fake-cry. "You don't want to be a murderer, do you?" Sakura was giggling quietly; this kind of conversation was commonplace.

Matthew wandered past the arguing friends and to Artie as she walked through the gate, smiling. "Good morning, Artie. You just missed the funniest thing, I swear," he chuckled, giving her a friendly nudge to the shoulder. "There was this one joke about Alfred's-"

"Artie!" Alfred cooed, parting from the still-speaking Chun-Yan, and pulling her into a crushing hug to greet her. He was a kind guy, in the way that he would only call Artie her actual name when it was just them and Matthew; the brothers were the only ones who knew her real name.

"Get off me, you twit," Artie chuckled lightly, trying to shove the American off of herself.

"And pay me back already! Don't ignore me!" Chun-Yan whined, before hitting Alfred in the back. He jolted in surprise, almost knocking Artie over in the process. She stumbled backward, glad to be out of his hold, and creased her brow. As she steadied, she sighed, and relaxed her tensed muscles.

"Chun-Yan, do tell, how much does he owe you this time?"

"Fifty dollars, -aru. I thought he was buying lunches each day, but he was just saving up for some game, the idiot. And this debt is from the start of the year!"

"Hey, _Animal Crossing: New Leaf_ is a kickass game!" From this remark, he got a punt to the leg from Chun-Yan. "Ow, dammit! That's where I got hurt in football, don't kick me there," he whined. Sakura warned her sister to be careful where she hit. Alfred didn't seem to be impressed.

Rolling her eyes, Artie dug into her pocket for her wallet, and pulled out a couple of notes. She handed them over to Chun-Yan, who snatched them up after a moment's hesitation. The girl did seem to have a liking for cash.

"You gave me twenty dollars extra," she noted, glancing up to Artie for an explanation.

"It's to pay for next time he tries to mooch off of you." To this, Chun-Yan chuckled.

"Hey, don't make me out to be a freeloader, Artie!" He stammered, trying to hug the Briton again in protest. She just elbowed him in the chin. "But thanks for paying for me, although you didn't have to. I was totally getting the money."

"Hey, Sakura," Chun-Yan murmured, giving her sister a little nudge. "Let's ditch these guys. Ivan's sick today.. But is Hera here? If she is, I want to pet her cats –aru." Sakura nodded.

"I think I saw her mother's car just now, so we should be able to catch her." She turned to the boys and Artie, and dipped her head. "Sorry, but I'll see you three in class. _Sayonara_."

As the sisters walked off in the direction of the car park, Alfred slumped against the fence, tired.

"You already had _New Leaf_ at the time, though, didn't you?" Matthew asked softly, bearing a knowing smile. His brother just nodded and laughed slightly.

"So what'd you spend the money on?" Artie puffed, climbing up the short fence to sit on it.

"Let's see, earlier end of the year, extra money needed.." Alfred listed, raising a brow. "Your birthday present. It _was_ kinda expensive, so," He answered, smiling like an idiot as per usual.

"Oh," laughed the Briton, remembering the quaint tea set Alfred had given her. "Now I feel kind of bad because I just gave you a forget-me-not and some cake."

"Oh, no, that was totally perfect, though!" Alfred reassured. "They're one of my favourite flowers, and you know how much I love cake! I'll forget-it-not." He winked. Matthew had to admit, these two would make a pretty cute couple, if Artie would ever acknowledge and return Alfred's desperate feelings.

"Mhh.. I just remembered something," She whined, hopping down from the fence to just stand and lean against it. "Mademoiselle Popular asked me to the prom this morning." The statement seemed to shock the brothers, as Alfred just kind of froze up.

"I just left my answer pending for now," Artie pouted, shrugging her slim shoulders.

"Oh, I see," Alfred breathed a little sigh of relief.

"Because I wanted to talk to you first."

Heart tightening in his chest, Alfred glanced away. "Uh, what did you want to talk about exactly?"

"I'm pretty sure it's the prom, since that's what we were talking about literally two seconds ago." Retorted Matthew, giving his brother an elbow to the side.

"Oh, right, prom," he laughed, fixing his glasses. "Completely forgot about that, hah,"

"I heard you two chatting yesterday afternoon while I was making tea-," Artie started. By the looks on the boys' faces, she didn't need to continue.

The bell sounded before anyone could talk again, and the trio put on their bags and began to walk inside.

"We'll sort this later, I guess? Cheerio, Matthew, Alfred," she mused, going off down the school corridor to get her name marked off at her rollcall group. Once her name was marked off, she headed down to Science, which was her first class. She and the boys were in different core classes, which was a shame, but it was nice when she felt like she wanted to get away from the obnoxiousness that Alfred exuded. However, Françoise _was_ in her core classes, which was going to be a headache and a half for Artie.

She showed up to the science room and got out the appropriate books, going up to wait in line. Françoise was quick to appear beside her, followed by Isabella.

"Good morning, again," she hummed, making a good effort to be as pleasant and cheery around Artie as she could.

"Yes, it is morning, good observation," Artie joked, not really paying much attention.

"Oh, you tease," she cooed, giving the Briton a friendly nudge. "So, you excited for Science?" Françoise asked as the class headed inside.

"Uh, not reall-"

"Because I think you'd look totally cute in a lab coat get-up!"

Artie was caught off-guard by Françoise's compliment, and she just kind of tensed where she stood. It seemed as if she had temporarily forgotten how to walk. "Uh, oh," she stammered, forcing her feet to work again so that she could get to her desk. "T-thank you, I guess," she murmured, sitting down and staring straight forward to the front of the classroom. She didn't quite know how to respond to compliments (other than Alfred's, because she just saw them as jokes), so she just buried her reddened face in her hands. It didn't take much to embarrass her.

"See?" Françoise chuckled to her friend.

She hadn't noticed Françoise and Isabella sit to the side of her, so she almost jumped out of her seat when she parted her hands from her face.

"It _is _okay if I call you cute, right?" Françoise asked, smiling and tilting her head to the side a little.

"I don't see why, but okay.." she laughed nervously, glancing away.

"I should, since we'll be going to prom together! And you're cute! I'm so excited, aren't you?"

"Oh, uh," Artie mumbled, not knowing if Françoise had plain not heard her answer earlier this morning, or was just too distracted in her mirthful state and forgot. "Sure. Prom's just.. a barrel of laughs.. Hah.." she trailed off.

"That's the spirit, Artie," the girl hummed back. "We'll be the most adorable couple there."

* * *

"Bit pretentious of you to assume that what he said meant yes, isn't it?" Julchen laughed, taking a bite of her hot dog and glancing to Françoise.

"But 'thinking about it' always means yes, at least when it's to me." Françoise insisted, upset at her friend's doubt. "Besides, I don't think even he could resist someone as beautiful as me!"

"You sure do love yourself, don't you?" Julchen muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, French Fry."

"Why is it that every time I sit down here, the conversation is about Artie or my brother?" Matthew asked, glancing over to the other side of the room to see Artie hitting a kissy-faced Alfred over the head with an empty food tray. "Is no one else worthy of your high and mighty conversations?" He joked. "Not that it's very nice to be gossiping and the like about fellow students in the first place."

"Other people are just boring, and Artie's the cute one, and Alfred's in my way." Françoise murmured, glancing away.

"Well, we could always talk about.. hm.. what about them?" Isabelle said, pointing over to a small group, two boys and a girl.

"You just want to talk about those guys because the grumpy brother has a crush on you." Smirked Julchen.

In the group right now, one member was trying to hug another, who was trying to hit the final member.

"You just don't want to talk about them because one of them is your sister," argued the Spaniard, laughing cheerily.

"No, my sister is almost as awesome as me." Julchen chided, shaking her head. "It's the thing I said before, okay?"

"Maybe I'll surprise Lovino and ask him to the prom," chuckled Isabella, playing with bits of chopped-up tomato on her lunch tray. "But if he doesn't want to go with me, I could always ask Feliciano, he's cute too."

"I'm pretty sure he'd want to go with you, considering he apparently has this crush on you," Matthew added. "Besides, after Monika and I split, she ended up with Feliciano. So he's a no-go."

Julchen puffed out her cheeks and lamely wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. "Still not over the fact that you dated my sister before you dated me, Maple boy. In fact, haven't you dated a whole ton of people? I remember you getting with Monika, Katyusha, Ivan, even-"

"You can stop there, Julchen," Matthew laughed quietly. "I'm not a player or anything, don't get the wrong idea."

"Oh man, I bet you just _loved_ dating my sister," teased Julchen. "You know, because she's taller than you, and your face is about the right height that you'd be able to m-"

"Julchen, please!" he squeaked, getting embarrassed.

"Well, point is, she's got a giant rack and I bet you loved it," she pouted.

Groaning, Matthew leant forward and hit his head on the table. "Sometimes I wish you'd just stop talking about embarrassing things in public."

"Awgh, but you deal with it and show that you love me, Matthew, isn't that right?"

The lunch break drew to a close, and it was time for their next lesson. It was one that Matthew and Artie shared, Visual Art, so they would be able to talk about the whole prom issue. Matthew would have to be careful not to accidentally trigger those sullen feelings in his friend, too. The only downfall to trying to talk to Artie in this class was that Alfred would be there too. Well, as he approached the art classroom, he readied himself for a metaphorical road trip across a minefield.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: This fic contains nyo! and fem! characters, so, for your convenience, I'm adding a list of names here at the start._

_Genderbent characters: Alice/Artie (England), Françoise (France), Julchen (Prussia), Isabella (Spain), Monika (Germany), Sakura (Japan), Chun-Yan (China), Hera (Greece)_

_Non-genderbent characters: Feliciano, Lovino, Alfred, Ivan, Matthew, Allistor (Scotland)_

* * *

Artie showed up first, determined to be as punctual as she could for her Friday classes. Alfred had needed to run after her to keep up to her speed-walking, despite having been sitting with her at lunch previously. It had taken Matthew a bit longer to try and part from an affectionate Julchen, who insisted on kissing him just one more time before they had to go to class. And then, she would say that again, and again, and so on. He wasn't complaining, though.

"_Bonjour_," Matthew sighed as he popped in beside the pair of friends. Artie jumped, and he raised a brow in concern. "Oh, uh, I mean hello,"

"You're so un-American it hurts, bro," Alfred scoffed, patting the startled Artie on her shoulder. "What next, you play hockey while covered in a foot of snow – sorry, you'd say 'metre' or whatever – and you're chugging Maple Syrup?"

"Ah, sounds like a dream come true," Matthew hummed, nodding. "_Désole_if I take after Papa more than you."

"'Scuse me for being a true-blooded American patriot like Ma," the boy retorted, sticking out his tongue.

"Now, now, no fighting, boys," Artie joked quietly, patting both of their backs. "Because we all know that the British are much more incredible than either Canadians or Americans." She smirked, nodding. She had always been proud of her lineage, even though she and her family lived in America now.

Before the boys had a chance to object – and certainly, Alfred was going to object – the teacher appeared in the doorway, and let the class inside. Artie just winked to Alfred, as if signaling that she had won. They sat down, both brothers to one side of Artie at their desk. Alfred, of course, had snatched up the opportunity to sit right beside her.

They were set on a task of working with line and colour, but honestly, most of the class just ignored the teacher's instructions and did their own thing – not that the teacher really minded. Mr. Vargas was one of those kinder teachers who allowed the class to do whatever it wanted, implying that it stayed within the subject boundaries. It wasn't that he was old that made him so lax; he was just a kind-hearted and overall jolly man. Artie still speculated about how he'd gotten the job in the first place, actually. Maybe because he had grandsons who went to school here, maybe because he was married to the Principal; also an old man, but of fairer hair and a sterner attitude.

Artie had taken it upon herself to draw something cool in her sketchbook, and ended up with a dragon similar to that on the flag of Wales.

"Whoa, that's so awesome," praised Alfred, glancing over to Artie's work. "Do you think you could draw me?" he cooed, pointing to himself with one finger.

"I don't think I would want your brutish face adorning my beautiful sketchbook," Artie scoffed, although she wasn't serious in her insults.

"You're killin' me, Artie," Alfred whined, slumping down onto the desk. He had been drawing some kind of superhero of his own design, although he wasn't fantastic at art, and it ended up looking quite odd. He would call it abstract if someone asked.

"Ah," mumbled Artie, thoughts returning to that of prom night. "Alfred, you know how we were talking this morning?.." She could just sense the boy's blood run cold.

"Oh, yeah, that," he laughed nervously, glancing down to his book as he started drawing something to try and distract himself. Matthew bit his lip and braced for the worst. Well, if he could even decide what the worst situation would be. Alfred getting his dreams smashed, or Françoise throwing an absolute fit and claiming how 'depressed' she was because Artie wouldn't come with her. That was quite the insensitive remark on her part, as poor Alfred was troubled by the illness, although it wasn't like she, or anyone really, knew. It was stowed away deep beneath his brother's cheery demeanor, and he did his best to cope. Either outcome of Artie's decision regarding prom would be one he wanted to avoid. But that was selfish thinking.

"I let Françoise's offer pend, because I know that you wanted to ask me, so," she said softly, voice dropping in embarrassment.

"Mm, well, the thought did come to mind," Alfred squeaked, nodding cautiously. "I was going to ask you all fancy and everything, with flowers and the whole shebang.. But I guess there's no point now." He sighed, shrugging.

"I'm still at an impasse," Artie mumbled.

Alfred tapped his chin with one finger, and then took a deep breath. "You can just go with Françoise, you know, I don't mind," he stammered. It had taken all of his courage to squeeze that out. "She's one of the most popular people at school," he continued, nodding bravely. "So you can go and have a good prom night with her. Matthew tells me how much she adores you. Besides, it's a square week now until the dance," He laughed quietly, although his heart was tearing inside.

Artie creased her brow, glancing down to the table. "Are you sure?.. I thought you-"

"I'm sure." He could tell what she had been going to say, and yes, he did. Matthew discreetly placed his hand on his brother's beneath the table, a notion of sympathy.

"If you say so, you idiot." Artie murmured, shaking off the bad atmosphere and trying to lighten up again. Well, looks like she'd be calling Françoise after all. "But what about you? Do you have someone else to go with?"

"Don't worry about me, Artie."

"Oh, alright.. Is it okay if I just go straight home this afternoon? I have some things to settle and whatnot," she asked with a faint smile.

"That's fine, don't worry," sighed Matthew, dipping his head.

"Oh, I was looking forward to your tea," joked Alfred, putting back on a cheery smile and pretending like nothing had just happened. "Which should've been coffee."

"Shut it," sneered Artie, rolling her eyes and then going back to her drawing.

The lunch break and next lesson were slow and a little awkward, with Alfred a bit out of it, and Artie feeling guilt nip at her heels with every step. The final lesson of the day was the one she despised the most. Ah, Physical Education.

After the tolling of the bell to start class, the students made their way down to the sports hall, a robust building with courts, hoops, mats; anything you could imagine for athletic activity. It even had change rooms built in to one side.

Artie clutched nervously at the strap of her bag as she wandered into the hall, quickly scurrying over to Alfred and Sakura.

"Hello," greeted Sakura, bowing slightly to her friend.

"Mm, good afternoon.." Artie mumbled, nodding. "Matthew's not here?"

"He's off skipping class with Julchen, wouldya' believe it?" scoffed Alfred, who was rummaging about in his bag.

He pulled out his sports uniform, and turned to Sakura to get her own out.

"Are you going to be okay with P.E. today, Artie?" he asked softly, lifting a brow. "You don't usually show up."

"Probably not," she admitted almost under her breath, uncomfortable and in an off mood. "I thought maybe I could give it a whisper of a go today. I doubt I'll be here long though, hah.." she whimpered, drumming her fingers nervously against her opposite arm.

"Hey," the boy hummed with a kind smile, putting an arm around the Briton's shoulders. "It'll be perfectly okay, trust me. You look just fine in the sports uniform! Besides, no-one will be judging you." He continued, doing his best to try and assure her.

"You need not worry at all, Artie-chan." Sakura added softly, although she wasn't as touchy as Alfred was in his comforting.

"I'll kick the teeth out of anyone who would dare to make fun of you, 'kay? Not that anyone will." Alfred puffed; only in her silence did he notice that Artie had started to tremble a little. As soon as he sensed that, he turned slightly and gave Artie a proper embrace. Her arms were loose as they reached around his back.

"I'm going to go to the office and claim I'm sick," she uttered softly, slumping out of Alfred's hold. "I might just come to your house after all, Alfred.. Oh, and I probably won't see you again today, so goodbye, Sakura. Have a good weekend." She mumbled, before turning tail and moving out of the hall.

"_Sayonara_," Sakura murmured, watching as her friend left.

"Someday I'm going to make her see that she's beautiful," Alfred sighed, shuffling off to go and get changed. Sakura followed suit.

"I hope so, Alfred-san."

"Where's Artie going?"

Alfred glanced up, to a rather dazzling Françoise. Did she put on makeup when she put on her sports uniform? Well, there was another one of the world's mysteries.

"Oh, Artie's not feeling so good." He answered with a little shrug. The French girl had managed to catch him mere seconds before he reached the boys' changing rooms. Sakura, sensing an unfavourable shift in the mood, stepped to the girls' changing rooms to avoid conflict.

"That's not good at all," Françoise pouted. "I was hoping he'd be on my team today," she whined, flicking a curl over her shoulder. "The teacher said we're playing soccer."

"Artie's favourite." Alfred mused with a little smile.

"Oh, is it?" Françoise purred. It seemed she could get valuable information out of Alfred, if she could stand how either obnoxious or dumbstruck he could be at times.

"Yeah. Always kicking my shins instead of the ball, I swear," he chuckled, delving into fond memories of when he and Matthew would face off against Artie in one of their yards. It didn't matter when one of the boys (usually Alfred) got covered in mud, either. Artie would just grab a hose and chase him around the yard with it. He missed those times, now that he thought about them. Artie wasn't as controlled by other people's thoughts, and she was much more of an open book.

"Planet Alfred, come in," Françoise joked, waving a hand in front of Alfred's eyes.

"Huh?.. Oh, my bad," he mumbled, shaking his head a touch. "Anyway, I should get changed.. Uh," Alfred excused himself and moved off to the change rooms. Wow, that could have been a lot less awkward.

* * *

"Erm, sick bay's this way," Alfred directed, pointing to one side of the school's office. Somehow, Françoise had managed to rope him into taking her to see Artie to tell her to get well soon. Damnit, maybe Matthew was right, and girls really did have this whole other language used to bend the will of the boys around them.

"_Merci_," the girl hummed, put in a thankfully pleasant mood. They passed the ladies at the office's front desk and headed down to the sick bay, where Artie was laying peacefully in one of the three beds.

"Hey," Alfred greeted softly, tapping the Briton on the shoulder.

".. Huh?.. Oh," Artie mumbled, rolling over and blinking open her eyes. "I must have fallen asleep. Is it three already?" she yawned, wiping her eyes and sitting up. It took her a few moments more to realise that Françoise was standing right there, puppy-dog-eyes and all.

"Sweet Jesus," Artie stammered, having been surprised by her fellow student.

"No, this is Françoise," Alfred joked, helping his friend to her feet by an extended hand.

"I've come to say that I hope you're well soon," she chirped, flashing a bright yet momentary smile. "I'd hate to think that you may be sick on prom night,"

"Oh, speaking of which," Artie interrupted, picking up her bag. "I've thought it over, and I'm able to attend it with you, Françoise," she laughed nervously, glancing once to Alfred, and then down to the floor.

"Oh, brilliant! _Très__bien_!" Françoise cooed, clapping her hands together. "I can't wait."

"Trust me, me neither." Wheezed Artie, shrugging a little. "I should be going home now, so farewell," she mumbled, looking to Alfred once again.

Françoise nodded, and blew her a little kiss. "_Au revoir_, dear Artie."

Face as red as Françoise's lipstick, Artie began to stumble away, Alfred in tow.

"Is it just because she's French?" Artie mumbled, incredibly embarrassed. "Or are all girls like that?"

"I don't know, I don't pay attention to many girls in particular," sighed Alfred, hands in his pockets as he trudged along beside her. "This is a question for my player of a brother, not one for me."

This casual banter with Alfred seemed to calm her nerves considerably, and the two reached the gate with smiles on their faces. Of course, she was not going _home_ per se (as she had told Françoise) because she would be heading to the Jones household. Well, it was a kind of home in a way.

"Do we wait for your brother?" Artie asked quietly, raising a brow.

"He'll probably be late home, you know how those teenagers are with their raging hormones and crazy girlfriends." Alfred joked, although his implications were serious.

"Thanks, I needed those kind of thoughts," she puffed, walking forward and tugging Alfred along by the sleeve. It was a way to make him walk faster, she figured. Besides, she was in desperate need of some tea.

"Sorry, but it's most probably maybe the truth," Alfred shrugged, speeding up to keep pace with Artie.

They reached Alfred's house shortly, being met at the door by Matthew.

"Good afternoon," mused Artie, turning smugly to her taller companion. "Matthew, this brother of yours implied to me that you were probably off having sex instead of attending class."

"What? That's crazy, Artie, don't make up mean lies about me!" Alfred protested, mouth agape in feigned shock.

Matthew laughed softly, and let the two inside. "I've no comment on the matter."

Artie moved quickly to the kitchen, using it as if it were her own. The boys' parents weren't due back home until late again, as usual, so she was free to use it. She made hot beverages to fight the late autumn cold, and brought them into the living room.

"Here, boys," she hummed, placing down the tray on the coffee table of the living room. "Look, Alfred, I made you a coffee today."

"Incredible!" he chirped, finding his cup and taking it into his hands.

"But just this once though. From tomorrow on, it's tea again. You're going to like it someday, you bloody Yank."

"I'll drink it if you serve it at our wedding, Alice," Alfred winked, receiving a kick to his side.

"Dream on. You're as mad as the Hatter himself if you think that's happening," she sneered, going right back at him with the Alice in Wonderland matter.

"It was worth a shot," laughed Alfred, drinking his coffee so that it would not spill, should Artie decide to try and hit him again.

"Oh, wedding dresses," Artie mumbled, as if recalling something.

"Thinking of wearing a pretty one when you walk down the aisle towards me?" Alfred teased, peering over his mug.

"Uh, no, but I just thought that I have nothing suitable to wear for this upcoming prom," she fretted, glancing away. "And I have no decent cash with me to buy anything, nor do I wish to go shopping in the first place," she whined, leaning her head back in defeat.

"Weren't you saying that you were going to go with Sakura? What were you planning to wear then?" Matthew murmured, intrigued.

"That was a joke, I wasn't serious." Artie puffed.

"Do you reckon you'd fit Sakura's size? I'm sure she wouldn't mind lending you a dress or something," he suggested quietly, shrugging.

"That's actually a strike of genius," she murmured. "I suppose I could try and get up the guts to dress all fancy and the like, since it is the big dance of my school years," Artie laughed quietly, but paused, and pouted her lips. "But I'd-.." she grew quiet, and took her tea cup to her mouth instead of continuing to talk.

"You would..?" Alfred continued, oblivious to the change to sullen in the room's mood.

"Erm, I'd need to look on-par with Françoise. I doubt she'd want a scruffy, scrawny and sickly pale date, not to mention one with a chest as flat as a board," she mumbled meekly, biting her lip. "It feels so strange, to have my thoughts centered on what clothes and makeup I'd need," Artie joked in a whisper, flicking her fringe. "I've never even put on something as simple as eyeshadow before."

"We can talk to Sakura about the dress over the phone, but Alice, I want you to know; you don't need to change a thing about yourself to be beautiful." Alfred mused softly, staring down into his coffee with warm blue eyes.

"You could do stand-up with that one, idiot."

"It's the truth," he insisted, pulling out his phone. "But here, I have Sakura's number, so you can call her now." Alfred nodded, and handed the device over.

"Again, why do you have her number and I don't?" Artie mumbled, incredulous to the fact that Alfred seemed to know much more about their Japanese friend than she did. "Bloody hell, I got Françoise's number before I got Sakura's."

"Did you try _asking dear Sakura for it_?" He scoffed, amused.

"Point taken, now shut up." Artie puffed, glad to have shifted the subject.

She pressed dial, and then waited for Sakura to pick up.

"_Moshi moshi?_"

"Hello, Sakura, it's me," Artie laughed quietly, getting up and wandering away from the couch where she had previously been sitting.

"_Oh, Artie-chan, I didn't know you had my number_." Sakura mumbled through the phone, a touch surprised.

"I'm using Alfred's phone." She explained, shrugging although her friend couldn't see.

They came to discussing the issue of borrowing a dress, and Sakura agreed without any arguing. It was in her nature to be hospitable, after all. She also noted that if none of her dresses were to fit Artie, then she was sure Chun-Yan wouldn't object to lending her a dress for the night. Also, she was invited over to Sakura's tomorrow to try things on, drink tea, and just chat. Artie made sure that it was on her to-do list to grab her friend's phone number. The pair said their goodbyes and hung up; with that done, Artie returned to the couch and handed the phone back over to Alfred.

"Thank you," she hummed softly, hugging her knees loosely to her chest. "This whole bloody prom thing is putting me on edge, I swear to god,"

"Don't swear, it's not very nice." Matthew joked, giving her a friendly nudge as he moved to sit down beside her.

"Oh, fuck that," Alfred joked, shuffling closer to Artie and then giving his brother a grin. They did seem to have a different plan for whenever their dear friend was upset and seeking solace – consciously or not.

"Double Jones brother ultimate power, go!" He beamed. As (dorkily) commanded, he and Matthew practically attacked Artie with overlapping bear hugs, all of this being an absolute surprise to her. If Alfred was any kind of superhero, he was one who existed just to spread good feeling and cheerfulness.

As they held the embrace and shared their warmth and good will, Artie found herself almost reduced to tears. She took a deep breath.

"I love you guys," she mumbled, trying to hug the two back (as near impossible as that was in her position). "Thanks for staying with me all of these years and being my friend," Artie laughed softly, lip quivering. "You know I've never been good with friends."

"Love you too, Artie," Matthew purred, and gave her a little squeeze.

Alfred had ended up sprawled over the two, hugging them as tightly as his arms would allow. "And I love you more, Alice," he hummed, forgetting all about Françoise and the prom and the rest of either of their worries for now. "You guys are the best people ever."

"I'm not so sure about the second one," she laughed quietly, not making any attempt to escape them like she normally would.

It grew late, the three almost inseparable the entire afternoon. These clingy and close afternoons were scarce, perhaps due to Artie's generally cold demeanor, but the few that they did have were pleasant, and would be remembered. Artie left only after giving each brother another firm hug. Tomorrow, it would be Saturday, and she would be visiting Sakura's house to try and find a dress to borrow for prom on the coming Friday. Sakura was one of her closest friends, and Artie thought it easier to be comfortable around her. She was so relaxed for the majority of the time, and was calming to be around.

As she got into bed that night, Artie closed her eyes and let the recall of today wash over her like displaced scenes of a film. A lot of pent-up stress collected in her mind, and she tried to force it away, but it seemed to remain. She prayed for the week to pass quickly, and then the prom that she so much feared to pass even quicker.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: This fic contains nyo! and fem! characters, so, for your convenience, I'm adding a list of names here at the start._

_Genderbent characters: Alice/Artie (England), Françoise (France), Julchen (Prussia), Isabella (Spain), Monika (Germany), Sakura (Japan), Chun-Yan (China), Hera (Greece)_

_Non-genderbent characters: Feliciano, Lovino, Alfred, Ivan, Matthew, Allistor (Scotland)_

* * *

Artie showed up to Sakura's house a bit later than they had arranged.

"Hello?" she called after knocking at her front door.

The door was opened by Chun-Yan, who looked ready to go out. "Oh, you're here to see my sister, aren't you?" Artie nodded. "She's in her room. I'm going shopping with Ivan, but you can try on the dresses in my wardrobe if you don't fit Sakura's," she yawned, patting the Briton's shoulder and then shuffling out past her. "_Zàijiàn_."

Puffing out her cheeks, Artie stepped inside and closed the door behind her. This whole idea of dresses frightened her, to put it lightly. At least she knew that Sakura wasn't one to voice opinions that openly. Then again, Artie wasn't sure if that was a plus or the opposite. Silence was just as daunting as any comment, perhaps more so.

"Sakura? Erm, good morning," Artie murmured, knocking at the girl's bedroom door.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu_, I'll be with you in just a moment." She replied, and a bit of shuffling about could be heard from inside the room. The door opened, and Sakura put on a little smile. "I am sorry that I didn't greet you at the door, but I only just woke up, as my alarm didn't go off," she murmured.

"I'm guessing you won't mind me being a bit late then, right?" Artie chuckled quietly, going into the room as her friend motioned for her to do so.

"It's fine." She hummed. "My apologies that my room is messy, as I have not had the time to clean," Sakura stated, scurrying about and trying to tidy up what she could.

"I really don't mind at all," Artie laughed quietly, putting a hand to her hip. "When you live with three rowdy brothers, you tend to stop caring about the cleanliness of people's rooms."

"Still, I should have cleaned earlier. I'll make some tea as an apology," she pouted, dipping her head and starting to move out of the room.

Artie followed, as she had no desire to be left alone while in someone else's house. "It needn't be as an apology, but tea would be nice." At least their love of tea was something that they had in common. They made smalltalk – mostly awkward, as Sakura had a habit of going silent when she didn't have anything to say – and sipped their tea. Once both of them had finished their drinks, they headed back upstairs to Sakura's room to start with the dresses.

They went through the tedious process of trying to squeeze Artie into various dresses, none of which would fit her properly. As scrawny and skinny as Artie was, Sakura was slim and had a different body type entirely.

"Chun-Yan separated the dresses she's willing to lend to the ones she's not," Sakura murmured, leading Artie into her sister's room. Oh, how nice, the ones that she would allow Artie to borrow were even put out on the bed. "I think her size would suit you better than mine."

"Mm, I hope so," Artie mumbled, feeling quite downed at this point. Was it that she was more bony or something like that? She bit her lip. The dresses laying on the bed were all beautiful, much too beautiful for her. There was a total of three. The first was dark red, with black ruffles and lace around the skirting and top. It was quite different to the second. This garment was black at the top, with loose and flowing material around the top. One side of the top segment was to be looped over the shoulder to support it. From the midriff of the dress, pale green ruffles rested in layers. The final piece was pure white, excepting the pale pink bows that were aligned with the bottom of the skirting; it was strapless, which was something Artie had hoped to avoid.

"Well, left to right, I guess," she murmured, to which Sakura nodded. Artie picked p the black and red garment and shuffled off to get changed. Thankfully, it fit around the waist and hips. The only problem was the upper torso. It was made something like a looser version of a corset, made to be somewhat tight around the waist in order to push up and highlight the wearer's chest. How it rested against Alice's quite flat chest was embarrassing; she dared not step outside of the bathroom where she had changed. Just looking at herself in the mirror caused her some level of shame. It wasn't like she could dance in something like that, anyway. Well, implying that she could actually dance. Which she couldn't.

"Erm, Sakura, could you bring in the next one?" she called, hesitant to go through the whole process of undressing and dressing only to have to repeat the process. As asked, her friend knocked at the door. It was only opened the tiniest bit by Artie, who took the offered dress and closed the door again. "Thanks. The first one wasn't really very fitting at all."

She changed out of the first dress, and quickly into the second one. It was a lot more comfortable, sitting on her meek figure rather kindly. It bothered Artie slightly that only one of her shoulders was covered, but it was better than nothing. Shoulders and arms seemed to be a part of herself that she wished not to show off, but it seemed like she would have no choice in the matter. She also wasn't fond of how much of her legs the jade ruffles failed to cover, but shook those thoughts off. Honestly, this was probably the best she was going to find.

"I think this is the one," Artie hollered out of the bathroom, knowing that she would have to show Sakura. She forced some confidence into herself and opened the door to step out.

Sakura creased her lips in a small smile. "I think you look nice. The green matches your eyes."

"Erm, thank you," she dipped her head, timidly giving the garment a little twirl. The benefit of the upper material being loose was that it seemed to hide the fact that she was flat-chested, and Artie praised the gods above for that. "I'll go change back now," she nodded, gaining a little assurance from Sakura's compliments. "Oh, and Alfred would get upset if I didn't take a photo."

* * *

Sunday was spent with Alfred, who had insisted on taking her out to buy some cute things to go with the dress that he wouldn't shut up about – he'd keep running his mouth about how perfect and charming Artie looked in it, and Artie would just hit him. After a long and painful hour of trudging through various accessory and clothes stores, they ended up with a black hair bow and pair of flats, Alfred's treat, of course.

The first three days of the week were slow and dreary. The only real highlight was Tuesday afternoon, where it poured down rain and Alfred ran about it it, forgetting that he had a class up next. Consequently, he had to sit through aforementioned class while soaking wet with a towel draped over him. Artie had scolded him accordingly for his foolishness. He showed up Wednesday, although he was complaining about a runny nose and a fever all day.

Alfred was absent on Thursday, reducing the group's numbers down to Matthew, Sakura, and Artie.

"I bloody told him," Artie muttered as she walked through the school's gate, Matthew and Sakura to her side. "I swore at him to get out of the damned rain! He's an idiot through and through." She puffed, crossing her arms and huffing. "Not that I'm complaining about a day where I don't have to be cursed by his insufferable presence."

"Alfred-san isn't really one for following regulations, is he?" Sakura mused, allowing herself a quiet second of laughter.

"If there's some school rule or social code he hasn't broken yet, it's a miracle," joked Matthew. Even Artie laughed at that one.

"Oh, Monika asked if I wanted to sit with her and the Vargas brothers today," noted Sakura, glancing to the pair beside her. "If I had known Alfred wouldn't be here today, I would have declined."

"Oh, right," Artie mumbled. "Damned idiot gets sick and leaves me to sit alone," she spat under her breath, words laced with venom. "You go and sit with that lot, I'll be just fine on my own." The Briton conceded, crossing her arms.

"Françoise said to tell you that you're free to sit with her anytime," Matthew offered, giving Artie a little nudge. "You don't have to sit by yourself."

"Mmh.. I want to say no, but it's probably best to be kind, at least until this whole prom business is over." Artie sighed.

The lessons were ones that seemed to speed by, and before Artie knew it, lunch break had crept up on her. Matthew caught her soon after she left the classroom.

"Hey, how was class?" he chirped, pleasant as ever.

"It was alright.. But you know how drama is, and how the teachers insist on being loud and pretentious," Artie muttered, stuffing her hands into her pockets. "And now the joy of sitting with Françoise."

"She isn't as bad as you make her out to be, you know," mused Matthew. "Maybe a little arrogant at times, but other than that, she's a real sweetheart. Very kind."

Artie scoffed in laughter, much amused by Matthew's buttering-up of Françoise. "Maybe you and Alfred could go as a pair of stand-up comedians when you're older."

They reached the table, and sat, Artie and Matthew opposite to Françoise and Julchen.

"We need to switch," the French girl whispered, nudging Julchen, who groaned and stood. "So we can sit next to our guys,"

"Wrong seat, eyebrows," she sneered, moving around and practically shoving Artie out of where she'd just been sitting.

"Julchen!" Françoise puffed, shuffling over and helping Artie back to her feet. "Be civil, _s'il__vous__ plait_! Artie, are you okay?"

"Just dandy," she mumbled, slotting down beside Françoise. She had ended up not buying any lunch for now, as she felt a little ill for eating. Julchen's attitude, as much as she wouldn't admit it, intimidated her. Perhaps she was a more tyrannical and destructive lady version of Alfred. Artie dropped that thought in a second; the two were very much different.

"It's great that you're sitting with us today, Artie," Françoise chirped, poking at her meal with a fork. "Especially since Isabella's trying to ask out that Vargas boy today,"

"I don't see why she wants to hang out with Lovino all day, he's such a grump," Julchen puffed, mouth half-full of spaghetti. "His brother is a completely different story, what a cutie!"

"I'm sitting right here," stated Matthew, raising a brow.

"Not as damned adorable as you, birdie," Julchen teased, pinching his cheek.

Artie tried to block out the conversation and focus on something different. This kind of conversation, this gossip about other people, it made her feel a little sick in the stomach. She already missed just casual conversation with her actual friends, when they would discuss anything from the alternate uses of umbrellas to their favourite types of jam. That whimsical banter cheered her up most of the time. Talking about other people behind their backs, judging them, laughing at them, it unsettled her greatly.

"Is that okay, Artie?"

It was when she was addressed that Artie realised that she probably should have been paying attention. "Oh, uh, sure," she mumbled, glancing away. She almost jumped out of her seat when Françoise's lips pressed against her cheek. "W-what the hell-" she squeaked, tensing up and lifting her arm on instinct.

"You literally just said I could," Françoise pouted. "You know, because we should get closer before prom night."

"Oh," Artie mumbled, cheeks turning scarlet. "Right, I certainly did." She laughed awkwardly, refusing to look at anything but the table in front of her.

"Look at you, red as a rose," Françoise cooed in adoration.

"I am not-" she went to interject, but at Matthew's snickering realised that she most probably was. "Bugger it all," Artie mumbled. She quickly came to bury her face in her hands, embarrassed once again. "Erm, I'm probably embarrassing you, sorry," she murmured. That was her first kiss of any kind, and it was shared with _Françoise_, of all people. Artie didn't know what to think of herself at this point.

"No, no, not at all," Françoise hummed, patting lightly at her crush's back. "I think it's cute." The flirting just didn't stop, did it?

After a squeak and five more minutes of hiding in her hands, Artie figured she needed to get away now, or else she might just die of embarrassment and painful awkwardness. "Erm, I'm going to go and get a drink," she murmured, forcing her hands back down to her sides.

"You can have some of my iced tea, if you'd like?" Françoise offered, pointing to a half-full bottle on the table.

"Oh, uh, I don't like iced tea," lied Artie, giving a queasy smile. "I'm just going to the bubblers."

Matthew caught Artie's faltering with ease, but was intelligent enough to understand her motives. "See you when you get back, then," he mused.

Artie grabbed her bag and shuffled off as quickly as she could, feeling like she was going to explode due to her racing heartbeat. Once out of sight, she leant against a wall and tried to calm herself down. Deep breaths eventually helped regulate her previously raggedy breathing pattern, and she puffed out a sigh. She dreaded Alfred finding out about this. As she had said, she headed to the bubblers, being as slow on her feet as she could. Thankfully, as she began to toddle back toward the cafeteria, she was saved by the bell.

Thankfully, the next classes she had for the day weren't core, and therefore she didn't have to share them with Françoise. Tomorrow frightened her, to say the least. Did Françoise seriously think that she and Artie were going to end up in a relationship just because they would be going to the prom together? It was something Artie feared, for various reasons, too. Romantic relationships were completely alien to her, and she didn't want her first to be one that would end badly when Françoise's little crush faded, as it surely would – that was how popular girls and their loves were, after all. Artie bit her lip and headed toward her next lesson.

The day ticked on, until second break came about. Artie had asked the teacher of her Home Economics class if there were any extra tasks that could be done through the break – luckily, there were – and she did them just to have an excuse for not sitting with Françoise.

Finally, it came time for the last bell to ring, and after it did so, Artie made her way to the front gate. When Matthew appeared, she accompanied him home. They went inside, as per usual, and Artie went to put on the kettle before anything else. Matthew had gone upstairs to greet his brother already.

As she poured water from the kettle to the cups, Artie found herself humming something quietly. She felt quite at home here, even though it was not her house. Smiling to herself, she turned to fetch sugar from the cupboard on the opposite side of the room. She jumped at the sight of a weary Alfred leaning against the doorway.

"Give a girl some warning, bloody hell!" she exclaimed indignantly, having not been expecting him to be there.

"I was going to say something, but I got lost in how cute your song was," Alfred shrugged. He gave a little smile, too. His cold was apparent in the slight droopiness of his words, and his slightly-hoarse tone.

"You bastard," Artie mumbled, getting the sugar as she had planned to before he showed up.

"Besides, this _is_ my house. You should give me some warning before you bless me with your lovely presence."

"I'll rip off your lips if you don't stop talking nonsense about me," she threatened, giving him a glance to say that she was almost serious.

"Oh, Alice," he laughed, stumbling forward and throwing his arms around her in a loose hug.

"Get off of me, you fobbish twit," she scolded, trying to go on making the drinks regardless of his embrace. "I'll get sick if you're a clingy idiot today,"

"My bad, sorry," he hummed, releasing her and taking a step back.

"Thanks to your idiocy, I had to sit with Françoise's group today," she puffed, finishing with Alfred's coffee and handing the mug over on a saucer. "I kind of accidentally agreed to letting her k-.." she trailed off, starting to get embarrassed again, and nervous on top of that. This wasn't something she had meant to mention in front of Alfred. "Uh, letting her kiss me." Artie murmured.

"Oh," Alfred mused, acting as if he wasn't affected at all. Whether he actually was, or if he was just acting, well, that was forever unknown by Artie. "Good for you, I guess," he laughed quietly before sipping at his coffee, realising it was too hot, and almost spilling it everywhere.

"Uhm, I made you something during Home Ec today, but only because you're sick and I'm a generous soul," Artie laughed softly, desperate to change the subject and kill the awkward air. Alfred gave a nervous chuckle, nodding.

"Well, you know how much I love your cooking."

Before he knew what was happening, a little parcel was shoved into his hands – one that Artie had pulled out of her bag only moments before.

"Should I ask what it is?" Alfred murmured, cautiously feeling the parcel. It seemed to be a chunk of rock if he was to judge just by feel.

"Sugar biscuits, they're supposed to go well with coffee, so," huffed Artie, passing Alfred to try and locate his brother.

"Right, biscuits.." he mumbled, putting the 'food' on the bench for now. "I'll have them with my morning coffee tomorrow, 'kay?"

Artie rolled her eyes and wandered upstairs with her cup of tea and Matthew's coffee. Now that she thought about it, she did kind of seem like the Jones' maid sometimes. "Alfred, you had better stop following me and pretending you're a ninja, and go the hell back to bed," she scolded, turning to see Alfred peeking out from a wall with the guiltiest face ever.

"Come on, it's hard not to be a ninja when you're wearing pajamas as kick-ass as these." He smirked.

"You aren't _that_ sick, are you?" Artie grumbled after delivering Matthew's coffee. "Tell me next time you're going to wag school, and I'll try and stay home as well, so I can visit," she puffed, trying to chase the boy back to his bedroom. God, he was just like a little child.

"I have the sniffles and it's a Thursday, Alice, don't be so mean," he whined as he trudged back to his room, Artie on his heels. "But that thing you said sounds cool."


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: This fic contains nyo! and fem! characters, so, for your convenience, I'm adding a list of names here at the start._

_Genderbent characters: Alice/Artie (England), Françoise (France), Julchen (Prussia), Isabella (Spain), Monika (Germany), Sakura (Japan), Chun-Yan (China), Hera (Greece)_

_Non-genderbent characters: Feliciano, Lovino, Alfred, Ivan, Matthew, Allistor (Scotland)_

* * *

Friday morning was spent worrying and fretting. Prom was tonight, after all; Artie had fair reason to be anxious. She tried to calm her nerves, but that plan was ultimately failing, and it was hard to even get ready for school. As she went to leave her bedroom and head to the kitchen for breakfast, her eyes snagged on the dress hanging over her desk chair. Just tonight, she would be wearing that and dancing amongst the rest of her grade. And she was terrified.

Artie forced herself to leave her room, and then head downstairs and make a cup of tea. God, if Alfred wasn't at school today, she swore that she'd destroy the bastard. She dressed in uniform, packed her bag, and said a quiet farewell to her family, before trudging out and down the street. She found herself muttering curses on Alfred's name before too long, but this was interrupted all too quickly.

"Alice!" There was a shout, and Artie was almost knocked over.

"Alfred, that is not how I've told you to greet me!" She exclaimed, indignant as her friend held her in a bone-breaking hug.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he laughed, releasing her and starting to walk backward. Now, Artie was puzzled.

"What on earth are you doing, you cretin-" she muttered, but was charged into again, with an even tighter hug to boot.

"Artie!" Alfred chirped, causing quite the rage in his friend.

"Oh, for god's sake, Alfred," she huffed, trying to wriggle out of his arms. She would never admit that she could probably do with some of his generous hugs today to calm her nerves. "Fine, good morning to you." She murmured. Alfred simply chuckled, letting go of her and lifting a hand to ruffle her hair. Artie just let him; it was too early for her to really care at the moment

"It's good that you're here today," she stated quietly, crossing her arms as she continued to walk.

"Oh, did you miss me?" Alfred hummed.

"I'd miss a hole in the head before I missed you, Yankee." Artie retorted, sneering. "I just don't have to sit with the popular girls today, so I'm happy."

He just grinned. "Glad I can make you happy, Artie."

"You're impossible."

They reached the school, meeting Matthew at the gate. Alfred had apparently run down the street – after reaching the school – just to greet Artie, leaving his brother here.

"Excited for prom tonight?" Artie asked, glancing to the elder of the brothers as they headed towards the main school building.

"Julchen's trying to fix up my two left feet, still," he chortled, fixing his glasses. "But I'm sure it'll be a blast, for you as well." Both Matthew and Artie could sense Alfred's fall in mood.

"Mm, but enough about that," Artie said quickly, ending the discussion as to shelter her friend's feelings.

She and Sakura had made plans that they would arrive together with Chun-Yan. They planned to be early, so that they wouldn't have to go through the awkward experience of trying to find their dates amongst swarms of other students. Artie just prayed she would look nice enough for Françoise's apparently high standards.

Their first lesson was elective, with Artie trying to make something in Home Economics. It wasn't that her cooking was even worse than normal; she kept going off with the fairies and getting lost in her thoughts. At its end, she left the class with nothing to show for it, and trudged to the lesson she had for second period. Great. Core.

Sheepishly, she stumbled into the line outside the room, praying that Françoise would leave her be for now.

"_Bonjour_, Artie."

Well, that prayer didn't go through, obviously.

"Mm, hello," she stated quietly, holding her books to her chest. She didn't dare to look up, in case her unease got the best of her.

"The prom is tonight, you are excited, _oui_?" Françoise chirped.

Artie gave an awkward laugh. "As excited as ever. I even practiced dancing."

"We'll win prom King and Queen for sure," she chuckled, putting her hand to Artie's shoulder. Not expecting the contact, Artie almost jumped, but forced herself to resist the urge.

"Oh, uh, whatever you say." She murmured, giving a weak smile. "But, Françoise, can I just tell you something?.."

"Go ahead, _mon cher_." Oh god, more French that Artie didn't understand.

"I'm not sure that I'll look nice enough for you at the prom, I mean I picked out an outfit and everything, but I-" She was cut off by a finger to her lips.

"Shh, now," Françoise cooed, smiling warmly. "You're perfect. You'll look perfect tonight."

Artie flushed and turned her head to the side. "Well, if you say so." Although she didn't agree with Françoise in the least.

The lesson passed painfully slowly, with Artie fiddling and trying to steady her fussing. All she wanted at this point was for prom to be over and done with. At last, after what seemed like a century, the bell sounded, and Artie sped out of class.

She ran into Alfred in the corridor, and much to his surprise, grabbed him by the arm. Almost aggressively, she tugged him along, out of the school building, out of sight from the other students. They stood now under a tall and shady tree.

"Whoa, um, everything alright, Artie?" He asked softly, a touch alarmed by her mannerisms. "You could've just said you wanted to talk?"

"It's not," she whimpered, surging forward a step and burying her face in his chest. He was taken aback for a moment, but gently draped his arms around her back. As her fingers clutched at the material of his shirt, he just frowned a touch.

"Shh, Alice, tell me what's wrong."

"I'm scared," she squeaked, voice muffled by Alfred's shirt.

"About prom?" he asked, rubbing gentle circles on her back. She nodded. "You really have nothing to be afraid of."

"That's not true at all, you bastard," Artie whimpered, too ashamed of herself right now to look up. "Everything's terrifying me, I-" she stammered.

Alfred was lacking in helpful words, but he gave her a gentle squeeze and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Everything'll be fine, Alice.."

"You can't know that, Alfred- H-how the hell would you know if everything'll be fine? And it won't, even if prom goes well, because I made a dumb choice!" She croaked, growing short of breath. "Françoise frightens me, but I'm still stupid and want to impress!" She wheezed, beginning to hyperventilate. "And I can't!"

"Alice, deep breaths," Alfred instructed softly, stepping back and holding onto her shoulders. She tried to lean forward again to hide her face against him, but he denied her attempts. Artie did her best to calm her pounding heart and jagged breathing. The tears staining her cheeks didn't seem to bother her that much. Well, definitely not as much as they upset Alfred.

"Come on, let's sit down," he murmured, ruffling her hair gently. Smiling slightly, he led her over to the base of the tree, where he sat down and patted the root beside him.

"The ground is dirty," she rasped, although she sat down anyway.

"That's why I picked a root for you-" Alfred had begun to speak, but stopped when his friend slumped over and against him.

"Idiot," she murmured, closing her eyes.

"There's the Alice I know." Alfred whispered, stroking her hair as she meekly started to cry again. "Seriously, everything will be fine. If you're worried about me, stop right there, 'kay? I understand, a hundred percent." He soothed, closing his eyes.

"But, I-.. God, you're so stupid, Alfred, I-" Artie mumbled between quiet sobs. "Sorry-.."

"You have nothing to apologize for." He hummed.

They stayed like that for a while, Artie clinging to Alfred, and Alfred whispering soft words of comfort. It was a kind of tranquility that Artie had been craving.

"Mm.. thanks.." she murmured, glancing up to Alfred with puffy eyes.

"It's the least I could do, Alice," he cooed quietly, giving her hair another fond tousling.

"I'm being serious, thank you," Artie whispered, head leant against his chest. "I don't think I'm as scared any more."

Alfred leant down on instinct to press a kiss to the top of her head, but stopped himself. That would probably make her feel bad or something, he decided. "You're ever so welcome, 'kay? I'm always here for you." He stated softly, one arm curled around her slight shoulders.

She let out a little laugh, smiling with still-quivering lips. "That makes me happy, you giant fool."

* * *

"Where were you two at break?" asked Sakura, as they trudged towards the hall for P.E.

Artie bit her lip and went to speak, but Alfred cut her off.

"Artie wanted to get a book out from the library, and then she sat down and read excerpts of things to try and decide which one she wanted." He laughed. Artie silently thanked him for covering. Saying that they spent the break curled up under a tree together would have been odd, anyway. "You know how she is."

Artie laughed softly, smiling at the idea. "I didn't even end up settling on a good one."

"That's unfortunate," mused Sakura, although she figured that was not what had actually occurred. "I sat with the Vargas brothers and Monika-san again."

"They seem like okay guys to be around, but we're way cooler." Alfred chuckled. "Sorry for ditching you."

"Hey," greeted Matthew, approaching with Julchen practically hanging from him in an embrace. "You alright, Artie?" He asked, noticing her puffy eyes.

"Hm? Er, I'm fine." she assured, nodding. He would've continued on and asked her if she was actually going to do P.E. today, but Julchen interrupted before he could even open his mouth.

"Matthew, you're on my soccer team today, alright? We're gonna smash 'em!" She grinned, arms curled around him from behind. Matthew gave a quaint smile and nodded slightly.

He scoffed, "Okay, fine."

His girlfriend quickly dragged him away to discuss their tactics or something, and the group returned to being a trio.

"You staying for sport today?" Alfred asked softly, smiling.

"Yeah, actually, I think I might." She stated boldly, clenching her hands into determined fists. "But I don't have a sports uniform, so.." Artie whined, glancing down.

"You know, I always carry a spare for you," mused Alfred, sitting down just outside the change rooms to rummage through his bag. "Just in case."

"What? That's bollocks," she puffed, incredulous.

Sakura smiled slightly as she reached into her own bag. "I don't think there's a single thing Alfred-san wouldn't do to make you happy."

"Erm, that's kind of you, Alfred," Artie mumbled, taken aback by Sakura's statement.

As he handed over the spare sports uniform, he flashed one of the biggest smiles Artie had ever seen. "I'd do absolutely anything for you, no matter what."

Unable to function properly at the moment, Artie grabbed at the uniform and tensed where she stood.

"Come on, let's go and get you changed," Alfred hummed, taking her hand for a moment. "See you down on the field, Sakura." With that said, he tugged Artie towards the boys' change rooms. Still dumbstruck, Artie didn't really notice until she was inside.

Snapping out of her stupor, she almost jumped. "Alfred, I can't be in here-" she squeaked, fretting a little.

"It's the boys' change room, and that's a boys' uniform, so," he shrugged, giving her a little smile. "Don't sweat it. There are stalls for the more shy, if you want-" He stopped talking as Artie pushed past him and scurried off to one of said stalls.

She changed a bit awkwardly; she was still put off that Alfred had dragged her in here. Damn that sappy idiot and his distracting sentimentalities. She finished dressing, and let out a quiet groan. This uniform was a bit too big for her, the sleeves uncomfortable and the shorts baggy to her knees. The shirt was short-sleeved, so most of her spindly arms were showing, which unsettled her a bit. But she was going to do this. She had promised herself that.

Artie was hesitant to step out of the stall, regretting doing just that as soon as she did.

"Oh my god," Alfred mumbled, having already changed; it was apparent that he'd been waiting for her.

"What?" puffed Artie, staring up at him with biting green eyes. "Never seen a sports uniform before?"

"You just look adorable," he cooed, flashing another grin. "That's all. It's a size down from what I'm wearing, but it's still so big on you! Adorable!"

"I'll break your nose," she threatened, hunching her shoulders and leading him back out of the change rooms.

"That's not very nice," Alfred chuckled, following without complaint. "But come on, Julchen mentioned soccer, didn't she? You can kick ass today," he nodded, determined.

"You know I haven't played _football_ in years," Artie chided, storming down to the oval with Alfred in tow.

Alfred shook his head. "I bet you haven't lost your touch."

Next came the issue of joining one of the teams. They had arrived at a time when the captains were already picked, and calling out in turn what player they wanted. Artie almost groaned as she saw who were standing out the front; Françoise was on one side, Matthew on the other. She was nervous now, for Matthew's team would have Julchen, and Françoise's team.. Well, it had Françoise.

As they had arrived late, Matthew had already picked Sakura, and it was now Françoise's turn. Artie prayed that the French girl hadn't seen her approach.

"Artie!"

Great. With a queasy smile, Artie parted from Alfred – who whispered a 'good luck' – and made her way to Françoise. Now, Matthew picked his brother.

There were murmurs about the class after Artie's name was called though. It wasn't hard to catch wind of them, either. Alfred swore he would 'politely talk to' the person who was making fun of her for finally showing up after all of those absences. The Briton herself did her best to block them out, although it was impossible not to hear.

The teams were picked, and then they went to their respective ends to start the game. The whistle was blown, and they ran forward for the ball in a flurry. Even though it had been so long, Artie was quick to get to the ball, and even quicker to send it flying down into the goal area. The goalkeeper missed, and there was a cheer.

"That was great," chirped Françoise, smiling widely. Artie nodded, although she was more focused on the large smile Alfred was wearing from the other side of the field.

"Erm, thank you." She murmured, snapping back into focus and waiting for the ball to be reset.

It came down to the last few minutes, and Artie had subbed in for goalkeeper. Françoise played defense, just for an excuse to be close to the Briton. As a member of the opposing team came surging forward, Artie prepared herself to stop them. The shot was made, and it was a good kick, but she managed to jump in front of the ball and stop it. The only thing was, it had struck her face, and she fell backward in two seconds flat.

"Artie! Are you okay?" Françoise squeaked, hurrying to her side. "You're bleeding-" Still reeling from the impact, Artie stared up at the sky, confused.

"Oh," she murmured, slightly irritated that a small crowd was gathering around her. Alfred wasn't among them, although it was most likely that he was trying to push through the circle and not being very successful. That, or he was still running over from the other side of the field. Listening to Françoise, Artie touched at her face, quickly finding that her nose was bleeding from the impact. "Ugh."

Slowly, she sat, but Françoise lay her back down again. "Here, I have tissues," she murmured, drawing them from her pocket and handing them over. Artie murmured a thanks and took them, holding one to her nose, and then sitting again.

"Who did that?!" Ah, there was Alfred. "Artie, are you okay?!"

She glanced about to try and locate him, but he was still nowhere to be seen. She stood, the small crowd already dissipating, and looked about. Brilliant, he was yelling from halfway across the field. That was probably because he had tripped and not had the time to get up yet. What an idiot.

"I'm fine," she murmured, trudging towards him slowly. Françoise pouted, and put a hand on Artie's shoulder.

"We should take you to the office, just in case," she insisted, turning the Briton around. The lesson ended, and this seemed to be Françoise's cue to practically drag Artie away. "I'm telling Julchen off for that as soon as I can, _mon ami_," Françoise puffed. Glancing down, Artie had trouble remembering at what point the other girl had begun to hold her free hand. "And on the day of prom, too!"

"Mm, unfortunate," Artie sighed, letting Françoise pull her along. They reached the office – although it was unnecessary – and Françoise complained to the nurse about Artie's incident. She was given fresh tissues and told to sit down in the lobby and wait for the bleeding to stop.

"I hope it doesn't hurt too much," Françoise murmured, giving a faint frown.

"It's really nothing, don't worry about me." Artie dipped her head, and glanced about the room. This was the girl she was intent on impressing tonight. She would look stunning this evening, and she would sweep Françoise off her feet. Yes, that was the plan. "I can't say I haven't been thinking about prom, though," she mused, slouching where she sat.

"I can barely contain my excitement," the other girl buzzed, smiling pleasantly and leaning back in her chair beside Artie.

Eventually Artie's nose stopped bleeding, and she stood to toss the dirtied tissues in the bin. "How much of break have I missed?" she asked, starting to leave the office with Françoise.

"Not much, just ten minutes," Françoise answered, glancing to her watch.

"Alfred's probably waiting for me, damn," Artie puffed, annoyed at herself for keeping him awaiting her return.

"_Mon dieu_, I feel sorry for you," Françoise mused, starting to do that high-and-mighty act that she tended to do. "If I had that unruly American following me about like a dog all day, I'd be saying damn too."

"Hah, well," mumbled Artie, a touch unsettled about Françoise's attitude.

"So you should come and sit with me instead."

"Erm, I'm not sure I could-"

"It's just _Alfred_, does it really matter if you sit with me instead of him for one break?" Françoise bartered, raising a brow.

"Mm, no, I guess not.." she murmured, although she knew it did in fact matter greatly. Sitting with Françoise when she could be sitting with one of her best friends.. Well, it felt a little like mutiny.

"See? Come on." With that, Françoise took her hand again and pulled her away to the cafeteria.

Through the break, Artie didn't eat much, only really eating what Matthew offered her from his food. Alfred sitting alone at _their_ table troubled her. Sakura wasn't there, as she had mentioned something about spending the break with Hera. He looked downright miserable, not as ravenous as per usual. Instead of gulping his meal down in seconds, he was prodding at it with a fork. This was a side of him that she barely ever saw. Had he seen her sit down with Françoise? If he had, that would make things even worse. It was also horrible that Matthew seemed not to notice.

"Excuse me, girls," Artie pouted, going to stand up. "Oh, and Matthew, too. I'll be back, maybe."

"Where're you going?" Françoise pouted. "I didn't even get up to the best part of my story-"

"Somewhere important, alright?" she said quickly, before moving off with her bag, and heading to the other side of the room.

Artie's steps to Alfred were hurried, and she wore quite the worried expression.

"Alfred, I'm sorry," she said quickly, sitting down across from him at the table. He looked up after a moment, seeming at least a tiny bit pleased that it was Artie.

He rested his cheek in one hand, and nodded. "Oh, hey."

"Are you alright?.. Françoise dragged me off before-"

"Just feeling down, hnn.. I was out of pills this morning," he murmured, dipping his head again. "And kinda lonely. Better now that you're here, though," Alfred added, starting to smile faintly.

"Damnit, I shouldn't have let myself be pulled away," she scolded herself, pouting. "And go to the chemist this afternoon."

"I will, and it's alright, you know how fierce teenage girls can get," he joked softly, shrugging. "Matthew says it's impossible to argue with 'em."

"Yeah, well," Artie mumbled. "They're expecting me to go back and sit with them again," she uttered meekly.

"Go and sit with them, then." Alfred insisted, giving half a smile. "I'll be fine."

"God, you're so selfless, aren't you?" Artie mumbled, fretting. "That's good sometimes, but if you overdo it, you'll end up hurting yourself." She stated quickly, looking to him earnestly. His blue eyes bored into hers, flat as they were right now. "So think about yourself for once, alright?"

"Yeah, I know that," he sighed, putting his hands down on the table. "I just want you to be happy, 'kay? I don't want you worrying about me, either."

"I'm not happy if you aren't." She puffed, poking Alfred's palm with her index finger. "And frankly, I can't help but worry when all you wish for is my happiness. You have to stop focusing on me and get your own wishes in order." She carried on, huffing.

Alfred was taken aback a little, not really expecting this kind of spiel from Artie of all people. "But my only wish is for you to be hap-"

"Then get some more wishes, about your own happiness." Artie cut him off, giving him a glare. "N-now, do you want me to stay here, or shall I go back?" she stammered, the embarrassment of their mawkish conversation catching up with her. "Well, you idiot?.."

"You can go back, alright?.. I mean, I want you here, of course, but-"

"Then I'll stay." quipped Artie, pouting and crossing her arms. "No 'buts' about it, Alfred." A touch flustered, she stared away, and began fiddling with her fingers. It was rare for her to become so openly sympathetic towards Alfred. Surprised, Alfred laughed quietly, dreary mood beginning to dabble in mirth.

"That's sweet of you, Artie." He murmured, taking a hold of her hands. "Thanks."

Artie tried to shoo the blush creeping into her cheeks out, but found that too hard. "W-well, whatever." She puffed.

"Oh, uh, does your face still hurt?" he asked, raising a brow. "I hope the ball didn't hit you too hard."

"It still tingles a little, but other than that I'm fine." Artie assured, dipping her head. She didn't really try to free her hands, either.

The lunch break passed slowly and pleasantly, both of their worries fading away, at least for now. Françoise had stared at them from the other side of the room, irate and green with envy.

"Maybe you were wrong about him, _mi amigo_," Isabella commented softly, rejoining Françoise so they could head to the next class together.

The final lesson of the day seemed to be gone in a blur, and finally, it was time for the students to head home. Artie bid goodbye to her friends, before making her way home. She allowed herself an hour of rest, in which she made tea and tried to distract herself by reading some of a novel; it was something Alfred had begged her to read, about some boy called Todd and his dog. It wasn't exactly her type of thing – she was probably the biggest _Artemis Fowl _or _Harry Potter _nerd around – but it was a decent read, and more importantly, a good distraction.

Now, she headed upstairs to get ready. She showered, shaved, and went about trying to pretty herself up. It was a scant few hours until prom, so she had every right to be nervous. She slipped into the dress, fiddling with everything until she had it to a point where it was perfect. Well, as perfect as she could get it. After putting on the flats and hair bow, she took a deep breath and stood in front of the mirror. This was probably the nicest she could make herself look for tonight.

She headed downstairs, only to have Allistor catch her on her way to her father's room.

"My god, ye actually look like a lass, Alice!" he scoffed, running a hand through his red hair.

"Bugger off, Allistor." Artie groaned, sticking out her tongue.

"Aw, I love ye too." He smirked, sticking his tongue right back.

She went to her father and asked him to drive her to Sakura's, to which he complied with a smile and compliments to boot. Artie wished him a meek goodbye, before heading inside. Chun-Yan was quick to compliment, although Artie was sure that she was just complimenting the dress she was wearing instead of her, the girl wearing it. The next hour passed, and finally, it was time to leave. They gathered their things, and packed into the Honda family's car.

"Come on, Dad, you know where Ivan's house is-" Chun-Yan pouted. Her father laughed slightly, and turned down the next street. "Oh, and you two are going to have to move over."

"Oh, all right," Artie murmured. She figured that she would end up sitting in the middle, as Sakura was too fond of window seats to give hers up. After a few more minutes of driving, they slowed down, and a rather large boy opened the back car door.

"Erm, hello," he said quietly, watching Artie shuffle over a bit, and then sitting down where she had just been. "Sorry about that."

"Ivan!" Chun-Yan cooed, turning around from the passenger's seat and grinning.

"You look beautiful," he hummed softly, wearing a dopey smile.

"And you look incredibly handsome," she chirped back, smile only widening. "And perfect."

"Uwaah~" Ivan squeaked quietly, cheeks reddening. "I don't, but thanks, Chun-Yan."

"I'm your girlfriend, so what I say is law. You're cute."

Artie laughed softly at the exchange. The two of them sounded kind of like she and Alfred, except that she would never say that kind of soppy stuff to him. It wasn't too far along in their journey that Ivan turned to Artie with a queasy smile.

"So, have we met?" He asked as he fixed his tie.

"Uh," she murmured, confused. Ivan was in her class. Did he not remember her or something?

"Ivan-san, are you not in the same class as Artie-chan?" Sakura asked, face blank as ever.

"Artie-.." Ivan echoed, taking a moment to think. "W-what? Artie? Whoa, sorry, I didn't recognize you! And, uwa, I always thought you were a boy." He mumbled nervously, playing with his hands. "Sorry-.."

Artie creased her brow, and glanced out Sakura's window to watch the street pass. "Erm, it's fine."

They finally reached the prom venue, and Ivan, Sakura, and Chun-Yan got out of the car promptly. Artie, on the other hand, was on the verge of tensing up and becoming rigid.

"Artie-chan?" Sakura asked, glancing down into the car. "Are you coming?"

"Oh, yes, of course," she assured, trying to force her body to move.

"Come on, you look real pretty," coerced Chun-Yan, one arm linked with Ivan's. "We're some of the first people here, so it's fine!"

Sakura slowly reached her hand in, to help Artie out. Sighing, she took it, and got out of the car. "Thanks for the lift, sir," she murmured into the vehicle, before turning to her accompanying trio and smiling weakly. "And thanks, you two." She mumbled to the sisters.

She was practically dragged inside by the over-enthusiastic Chun-Yan, who just wished to get into the food that was being laid out. Ivan didn't seem as painfully excited as her, though. Sakura stayed close, thankfully. For now, Artie and Sakura made smalltalk among themselves, waiting for their dates to arrive. Time passed, and Hera arrived, dressed in a lovely and flowing white dress. It didn't take long for she and Sakura to go off to dance. Artie didn't think she would ever be jealous of the weird sleepy cat girl, but there she was, envious and feeling sick about her own appearance.

The chatter of the students around her quietened as the door to the prom hall was opened. Artie was frozen to the spot. With Julchen and Isabelle to either side, there she was. Dressed in a dazzling red dress, and stunning from head to toe, there stood Françoise.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: This fic contains nyo! and fem! characters, so, for your convenience, I'm adding a list of names here at the start._

_Genderbent characters: Alice/Artie (England), Françoise (France), Julchen (Prussia), Isabella (Spain), Monika (Germany), Sakura (Japan), Chun-Yan (China), Hera (Greece)_

_Non-genderbent characters: Feliciano, Lovino, Alfred, Ivan, Matthew, Allistor (Scotland)_

* * *

Artie was meek in her approach, taking slow steps forward and weaving between the people to try and head to the front door. This was it. Finally, she reached the trio at the door, and gave a cowardly bow of greeting.

"Good evening, Françoise." She said softly, looking up for only a second.

"Oh, _mon dieu_," Artie's date mumbled, eyes widening. "This is some kind of joke or something, right?" She murmured, glancing to Julchen and Isabelle.

"It's gotta be," sneered Julchen, looking Artie up and down.

"Er, is something wrong?" the Briton asked, creasing her brow in confusion. "Oh, was I supposed to bring flowers?"

"_Non_, it's not that-" Françoise said in almost a whisper. "Tell me you aren't Artie Kirkland.."

"That's my name.. Uh.." she murmured, starting to worry.

"Ha, I fucking knew it!" Julchen exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "I told you, Françoise! I knew something was off!"

Artie fell silent, blood running colder than ice.

"Quiet, Julchen! God, you're making this even more embarrassing than it already is!" Françoise huffed, giving her friend a little shove. "Honestly!"

"U-um.." she mumbled quietly, afraid to interject. "Shouldn't we dance or something, Françoise?.."

Françoise stared to her in disbelief, indignant all of a sudden. "God, I don't know if I want to, now. I'm not a lesbian." She stated bluntly.

"Uh, then why did you ask me to prom?" Artie asked, even though she figured she knew the answer.

"Because I thought you were a cute boy! But you're just a girl," Françoise muttered, pouting. Yes, she was right on the mark. Painfully so.

_Does that really matter?_ thought Artie, although she didn't dare speak it aloud. If she had the gall right now, she would swear in frustration.

"You may as well dance with _her_," Julchen smirked, giving Françoise a pat on the shoulder before disappearing into the surrounding crowds. Isabelle took her leave as the Vargas brothers arrived, leaving the two.

"Ugh," Françoise muttered, obviously feeling off now. Slowly, she reached for Artie's hand and shakily put her other hand on the girl's hip. "I can't believe I _kissed_ you," she uttered, beginning to sway to the music that was playing.

"Well," Artie murmured, feeling that this prom wasn't going to go as planned. This whole debacle with Françoise was enough to do her head in.

They danced for the duration of the current song, Artie trying to keep in step with Françoise, who was clearly much better at this than she was. The song ended, and the French girl said that she was going to get something to eat. Just like that, she'd left Artie by herself. After a few minutes of awkward waiting, she decided that she would go and find Françoise herself.

After surfing through the crowd for a bit, she managed to catch sight of Françoise, who was standing about and chatting with Isabelle. She moved towards Françoise cautiously, coming to stand beside her.

"Have you eaten yet?" Artie asked softly when there was a pause in conversation. Françoise simply glanced down to the Briton, turned her nose up, and then returned to talking to Isabelle like poor Artie wasn't there at all. "Uh, Françoise, did you hear me?" she stammered, although she knew that her date had.

Françoise didn't even look at her this time. Well, as if this wasn't crushing her self-esteem into a little pile of dust. Hesitating a moment longer, Artie lingered in front of the two. She couldn't stand another moment of this. She took a deep breath and turned, pushing through the crowd to try and get to the bathrooms. On her way, she bumped into Julchen and Matthew dancing, but she did not attempt to apologize.

Once in the bathrooms, she entered one of the stalls, and locked the door. Shaky and distressed, she put down the toilet lid and sat on it, curling up into a little ball and allowing herself to cry. Damn it, she was such an idiot.

Such a fool! To believe that she wouldn't end up a joke, or even worse, _ignored_, that was one of the stupidest things she'd ever done! Did she really think that she would be able to have a good night here? As thoughts like these and worse bombarded her mind, she found that she was blaming herself for this, and her upset only increased tenfold. Prom was a bloody terrible idea in the first place, and it was her fault for saying yes to Françoise in the first place. God, she doubted she would even be able to leave the bathroom until everyone else was gone. There was a certain shame that overwhelmed her, and she didn't think that she could face anyone out there tonight.

Her sobbing was quiet, muffled as her face was buried in her arms. She thought she heard footsteps, and then someone entering the room. She made sure to stop her crying when this person entered, so that they could do what they came to and go without knowing about the pathetic weeping girl rejected by her date.

Artie heard them leave, and softly resumed her crying. To say the least, this sucked. The door opened again, and she held her breath. But then, soft, and whispering, there was a voice.

"Hey?.. Alice?"

She straightened up in instant, eyes wide.

"Y-you're not supposed to be in here, idiot- This is the girls' bathrooms-" Artie hissed, quite shocked.

"I saw that you ran in here, upset," Alfred said softly. "So I don't really care about the rules anymore."

"Good for you," she sniffled, resting her chin on her arms and hugging her knees to her chest. "Now go away."

"Here, I stole it from one of the decorations in the hall." With that remark, a flower was slid under the stall door.

"Don't steal things, you dolt," Artie sniveled, although she leant down and picked it up, holding it gingerly.

"Do you want a hug?.. I don't know exactly what's happened, but you sound like you need one." He enquired, knocking on the stall's door.

"Psh.. No way in hell-.." She murmured, although she stumbled to her feet and unlocked the stall. There he stood, an angel dressed in a crinkled navy suit with another stolen flower tucked into his breast pocket.

Artie fell against him, arms tight around his waist, and the flower still grasped in one hand. "She's pretending I don't exist," she mumbled, closing her eyes. "Because she's so fucking surprised that I'm not a guy and she doesn't know how to handle it-"

"I see." Alfred whispered, resting his chin on the top of her head and holding her closely. "Hey, I'm here now. I've got you." he hushed.

"I thought you weren't coming," Artie admitted softly, voice hoarse from crying.

"I came with Matthew, although I was just in the corner of the room eating until I saw you dash across the room." Alfred murmured, shifting his arms so that he was embracing his friend more securely. "I dropped everything and came right after. Except I had to wait for some chick to finish here so that I could sneak in."

"You idiot," breathed Artie. "We probably shouldn't stay here, since you're not supposed to even be in here.."

"Shit, those are footsteps," whispered Alfred, shuffling forward with Artie into the stall. "Damn it, I get us into some strange situations." He commented quietly, releasing Artie for a mere second to lock the stall door. As predicted, someone entered the bathroom and went about their business. For the duration of which, Artie and Alfred kept deadly silent, just glancing to each other, and holding each other loosely. Finally, there was the sound of the door closing, and the pair burst out laughing.

"I cannot believe you, Alfred," Artie chuckled wearily, smiling despite the upset that still haunted her. "You're my bloody hero," she whispered, giving him another squeeze.

"You know it," he hummed, leaning out of the embrace a little to smile at her. "Have I made my Alice in Wonderland smile? Is that a smile?" He teased, lifting a hand to gently poke her cheek.

"No way," she protested, although she was trying her hardest to tell her smile to go away so that Alfred wouldn't win. "And I'm not _your_ Alice, in Wonderland or not."

"Oh, my bad," Alfred mused. "This is probably the worst time, and we are locked in a toilet stall, but do you want to be?"

Artie just stared at him for a moment, puzzled. "Do I want to be locked in a toilet stall?" she repeated, confused.

"No, no," he laughed, noting that she gave him a little squeeze. "Do you want to be my Alice?"

"I still don't understand," Artie puffed, leaning her head down and giving him a gentle headbutt.

"I'm asking you out, Alice," Alfred stated, nervously laughing. "God, I'm so sorry for my awful timing, and this isn't the best location, and it's kind of prom-"

"Yes, you fool.."

"-So I understand if I've kind of ruined the-.. W-wait, did you say yes? Oh my god," Alfred stammered, looking down in disbelief. "Jesus, I'm so sorry, that was a spur of the moment question- I feel so insensitive now.."

"Alfred, quiet." She sighed, trying to stop him from rambling on. He was so awkward with timing and situations, wasn't he? Well, maybe she would stop feeling like shit about Françoise if she had something like this to take her mind off it. Well, more like someone to take those thoughts off her mind. "Thank you."

"You're.. thanking me?" he asked, a little incredulous. "I-.. You said yes, didn't you?-." he murmured, needing to make sure.

"Didn't you hear me the first time?" Artie quipped, wiping her tears with her sleeve. It was in a single moment that Alfred picked her up and spun her around in the limited space of the toilet stall, accidentally falling back and hitting himself against the closed door. He grinned all the while. "Put me down, you fool," she stammered, relieved once her feet were touching the ground again. The sadness that had clouded her mind seemed to be slowly fading, replaced with this kind of confusion and abstract mirth. God, Alfred was a miracle worker. Or maybe he was just a miracle.

"I could just kiss you right now," Alfred beamed, looking to Artie with wide eyes.

"I can't believe you, Alfred," she murmured, biting her lip. "In the girls' toilets for your first kiss?" Artie joked softly, raising a brow and wiping her eyes again.

"Hey, how do you know it's my first?!" Alfred huffed, puffing out his cheeks. "I've totally kissed like ten chicks."

"That's bollocks, Yankee, you've had a crush on me since you were ten and you've never even looked at anyone else!" she insisted, pulling out of their embrace just to poke at his chest.

"Artie, shush, I can hear footsteps again-" Alfred whispered.

"Don't change the subject!-"

Before she knew what was happening, Alfred's fingers were on her chin, and his lips silenced her own. She quickly closed her eyes, and tensed up incredibly. He lingered for a few moments, before pulling away and giving her a cheesy smile. If they weren't still hiding in a toilet stall and trying to be quiet, Artie would have hit him. Embarrassed, cherry-red, and too flustered to function, Artie sunk back into Alfred's arms. As the person left, she let out the breath she had been holding, and lamely hit him in the stomach.

"Don't do stuff like that without warning, idiot-" she squeaked, reaching past him to unlock the toilet stall's door. "Honestly.."

"I'm so sorry," he laughed softly, quickly heading to the bathroom's exit and slipping out with Artie to his side. "I feel like an ass, not just for that.. Uh, I feel it was really inappropriate for me to ask you that right now," he rambled; he was clearly not sure that Artie was fine with it.

"Hey, Françoise can go to hell, I mean, honestly, what's her damned problem?!" Artie puffed boldly, pouting. "Uh, so Alfred.."

"Ask away," he murmured, glancing over to the couples dancing throughout the hall.

"Take me to the prom?" She asked, holding out the little flower that Alfred had given her earlier.

Alfred took it with a little smile, and nodded. "I'd love you, Alice-.. Fuck, I mean I'd love to," he laughed awkwardly at his blunder, tucking the flower into Artie's hair, under the bow.

"Love you too." Artie said softly, numbly reaching up for his hand. "It may not seem like it, but you're the kind of idiot I can tolerate. Even if you're annoying almost all of the time."

They began to dance, Alfred taking the lead. His hands seemed to dwarf hers, but they were warm and soft, even if the fingertips were a bit calloused.

"This is the strangest night of my life," Artie said softly as they swayed in time to the music playing above.

"You don't say," Alfred chuckled.

At the other side of the hall, Françoise was bordering on furious. Despite her incredibly rude behaviour towards Artie earlier, she still harboured feelings, at least for the idea of her. It made her envious to watch her and Alfred dancing gracefully among the center of the hall, doubly so since she had no partner to dance with, herself.

The hours grew old, and the prom passed its climax. Prom King and Queen were announced; the couple were a boy named Roderich and his girlfriend Elizaveta. Julchen booed loudly when Roderich stood up to receive his crown, but was silenced when Matthew gave her a glare. Second place went to Hera and Sakura, which was nice.

With that over, the music soon began to fade, and people began to leave. Catching Sakura at the door, Artie congratulated her on coming in second place, and stated that she'd be heading home with Alfred this evening.

More and more people headed out of the building, including the still upset Françoise.

"Should we go?" Artie asked quietly, lamely embracing Alfred once again as their dancing slowed to a halt.

"Matthew said he'd find us at the end of the prom, so we have to wait for him," Alfred pouted, cuddling her close to him once more. "But until then," he said quietly, leaning down and peppering kisses to the top of her head.

She let out a squeak and tried to stop him, but he just chuckled and gave her a squeeze. "Don't do that-" she stammered, taking a moment to calm down. "God, you're the most embarrassing b-.." Artie faltered, embarrassed about using the proper term now. "Uhm, boyfriend.. ever." She mumbled, burying her face in his chest in embarrassment.

"Just when I think you couldn't get any cuter, Alice," Alfred chirped, quite cheery. "You go and be even more adorable. I can't handle it." He smirked, pressing a final kiss to the top of her head.

"Need I ask how prom went?" Matthew asked, wandering towards them with lipstick marks all over his face. "Oh, and are you alright, Artie?.. I would've gone to check, but Julchen wouldn't let me get away."

Surprised by his sudden appearance, Artie jumped back from Alfred, gritting her teeth. "Er, I don't think we need to ask you, either. You're probably wearing more of Julchen's lipstick than she is." She quipped, staring down at the ground. "And, well, I'm fine now." She stated, looking up to Alfred with a tiny smile. He grinned back, and then she just turned away in embarrassment.

"Bro, I totally asked Artie out," Alfred cheered softly, lifting a hand to mock whispering to his brother.

"I think I know what she answered," Matthew chuckled, following suit with the gesture.

"Come on, you fools," Artie puffed, reaching up and making them lower their hands. "Stop doing that."

"Hey, Mattie, you can go home now in the car if you want, but I'm gonna walk Artie home." he chimed in, turning his hand so that Artie was holding it.

"Alright, but don't take too long, or I'll get Mom to drive out and find you guys." With that, he turned and headed out the door, going out to where his mother was waiting in their car.

"I never agreed to walking," Artie pouted, frowning a little as Alfred tugged her outside.

"I just want to spend a bit more time with you tonight, 'kay? Make sure you're okay and stuff." Alfred insisted, giving her hand a little squeeze.

"You're so affectionate and kind, I'm going to catch fire or something," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "But, uh, thanks. And I'm only letting you hold my hand because it's kind of cold here. Especially in a dress."

"Sure.." laughed Alfred, starting their walk down the street. "So, what's going to happen with Françoise, do you think?"

"I'm just done with her, you know," Artie muttered. "She asks me to prom, causes me all this stress and worry I didn't need, and then completely ignores me. Kind of rude. Damn frog-face." She cursed, bitter already.

"I see," he mused, dipping his head. "Maybe I'll do that trick you used to pull on me next time we play soccer," he chuckled. "The one where you'd kick me in the shins."

"You could try," she elbowed him gently. "But don't come crying to me if you get in trouble."

"She kinda earned it, so I don't think I'd get busted too bad." Alfred smirked.

"Hey, did I mention that you look absolutely beautiful tonight?" Alfred stated after a little moment of silence. Artie stopped dead in her tracks for a moment, him turning to look to her with an immense smile.

"You know, I've never really listened to your dumb compliments and lovey-dovey nonsense." She mumbled, turning away. "I still don't believe you, don't get me wrong, but I-.." Alfred gestured with his free hand for her to continue. "Well, thanks. As much as I hate to say it, you're, uh.. You're sweet, Yankee." Artie stammered, starting to walk again, except in a quicker pace this time. She felt somewhat dumb for being all mushy tonight, but her emotions were more than a little out of whack, so one couldn't exactly blame her. It seemed to be rather straightforward to ease into more romantic endeavours, probably because the two had known each other for numerous years.

"That's nice of you, Alice," Alfred uttered softly, pleasantly surprised by how charming Artie could be when she put her mind to it. "Oh, we'll be at your house soon," he noted, glancing up to a street-sign. "Did you notice that we took a shortcut?"

"W-what? When?" She murmured, suspicious.

"You were too entranced with your love for me to notice, weren't you?" Alfred teased, earning a hard elbow to the ribs. "Okay, maybe not," he wheezed.

Eventually the pair reached Artie's house, and wandered up to the gate of the yard.

"Well, here we are," Artie murmured, reluctant to part with Alfred, as much as she kicked herself for thinking that.

"You sure everything's okay? You don't need me to do anything?" Alfred fussed. "You'll be alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'll be fine, you fool." She sighed, nodding. "Don't worry, all right?"

"Alright, I'll try," Alfred puffed. Smiling a little, he parted his hand from Artie's, and opened his arms wide. "Just once, you hug me first."

"God, you're such a pain," she muttered, leaning forward and wrapping her arms tightly around his torso.

"Yeah, but you love me. You said so." He puffed proudly, cuddling her as much as he could. Neither of them tried to pull back from the embrace, finding it too warm and comfortable to have any desire to. Her slim figure against his bulky and muscular, they fit perfectly.

"If I had a coat, I'd give it to you," he murmured, but was struck by an idea. Smiling a little, he took off the outer top of his suit and draped it around Artie's shoulders.

"You're so dumb," she whined softly, clutching onto the item of clothing and puffing out her cheeks. "You forgot your flower." Glancing down, Alfred nodded and picked the stolen flower out of the breast pocket, and instead tucked it behind his ear.

"I'll take good care of it." he laughed softly, making a brave move and cupping her cheek in one hand. Head spinning, Artie made the first move and stood up on tiptoes, pecking his lips with her own. "Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight, Alfred," she sighed, smiling ever so slightly. "You should come over tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I .. l-.. like you very much. Now, goodbye." Artie squeaked.

"Love you too, cutie," Alfred hummed, nodding. "Stay warm, Alice."

Dumbstruck, Artie dipped her head and turned to enter her home. Alfred had already turned to start walking away, but stopped and returned to facing her. He bore the dorkiest smile ever.

"Oh, and Alice?"

She turned at her name, looking to Alfred with warm eyes.

"Try not to fall down the rabbit hole."

* * *

**thanks for reading! i hope you liked it ! i worked hard ;w;**


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